Council directs staff to pursue San Patricio water rights as regional desalination debate continues

The Corpus Christi City Council voted to direct staff to prepare a term sheet to purchase water rights covering roughly 22,788 acres in San Patricio County, a step council members said is intended to add near‑term capacity while the city evaluates longer projects.

Councilmember Roland Hernandez moved the direction after staff described an initial upper limit of $7,437 per acre — a package that would total roughly $169.5 million before appraisal and appropriation. City staff told the council the acquisition would likely be funded with revenue bonds and that officials will seek state and federal grants and SWIFT loan assistance to reduce rate impacts on water customers.

That vote came amid a lengthy briefing from John Byram, executive director of the Nueces River Authority, who detailed the authority’s “New Water for South Texas” plan to build a large seawater reverse‑osmosis desalination plant on Harbor Island. Byram described a phased program that would permit 100 million gallons per day (MGD) in phase 1 with the ability to expand later. “Phase 1 of that is for the development of a 100,000,000‑gallon seawater desalination facility, which would be the largest in the United States,” Byram said, and he outlined offshore intake/discharge infrastructure, a conveyance pipeline and potential customers along a regional route.

Byram said permitting is underway — including a lease for port land, offshore water‑use applications to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and a U.S. Army Corps 404 application — and that provisional deliveries could begin as early as 2029 for nearby users, with full conveyance to farther customers completed by the early 2030s depending on pipeline routing and financing.

Council discussion and public comment underscored the tradeoffs the city faces. Supporters, including several council members, said the water rights purchase and exploration of desalination diversify supply and help reduce reliance on surface water. Opponents and many public commenters warned the city not to rush into expensive, risky projects: they asked for independent technical review of modeling, more detailed operating‑cost estimates, guarantees around rate impacts, and stronger environmental safeguards for brine and chemical discharges.

Staff said the water‑rights direction is only to prepare a contract for council review and that any final purchase, appraisal results, and proposed bond financing would return to the council for approval. The motion passed with the council directing staff to return with a term sheet, financing scenarios, and timelines for construction and delivery.

Next steps: staff will prepare the draft agreement and a timeline for council review; the Nueces River Authority said it will continue P3 outreach for plant design, permitting and financing.